Business reports minimal damage, but 'we're still in shock'

A deer jumped through one of the front windows of Barbers Chair 2 on Division St. in Morris Wednesday afternoon. The deer crashed through the window and landed onto a children's play table. No children were present at the time.

By Jessica Shumaker — jshumaker@morrisdailyherald.com

A stray deer crashed into a local barber shop Wednesday afternoon.

Stephanie Snyder, barber at the Barber Chair 2, located at 1226 N. Division St. in Morris, said the shop was visited by a deer that burst into the building by jumping through a storefront window just after noon.

"It was a very intense time," Snyder said of the ordeal.

One of two barbers in the shop at the time, Snyder was giving a haircut to a customer when her coworker, Sheri Sievert, saw the deer running at the window. What followed was noise and confusion.

"There was glass everywhere," she said. "It was so loud the real estate agents next to us were asking about a car crash."

Once the animal was inside, Snyder said, the barber shop's occupants were face-to-face with the deer.

"It looked at her, it looked at me and went into the back," she said. "It was kind of scary."

Snyder said the deer was full grown, and about as tall as her.

"It was big," she said. "It was no baby."

Sievert said the deer was clearly confused as it darted into the middle of the barber shop, and eventually holed up in a back bathroom. A man passing by instructed the women to exit the shop and call police while he helped barricade the deer inside until Morris police officers arrived to assist in its removal.

When police arrived to the scene, officers used a few nudges with a broom to lead the deer out of the business' back door.

Snyder said damage to the business was minimal beyond the shattered window pane and some blood leftover from the injured animal.

Morris Police Chief Brent Dite said incidents involving deer in town are not out of the ordinary.

"It doesn't surprise me that it's occurred," he said, noting that he occasionally spots deer along the edges of town in the morning. "We've kind of moved into their area, and they're reluctant to leave sometimes."

A day after the incident, Sievert said she still couldn't believe it happened.

"It was one of those things where you see it on TV and you don't think it will ever happen to you," Sievert said. "We're still in shock."